Gifts of the Temple
by ToiletBrushCat
Summary: Konoha is built upon the Bijū Kyūbi's land. The clans worship & appease him each year on Oct 10th with gifts, including a child. None know how the children serve the Bijū, but they are returned to their families upon maturity in perfect health. Except the rare child that never returns. Do they still serve or were they eaten by Kyūbi? None know. KyuIta KyuHarem COMING SOON: KYUKAKA


**UPLOADED: 04/08/2016**

* * *

 **Full Summary**

 _Konohagakure is a prosperous village, but it's land belonged to the Bijū of Chaos and Disaster.  
They worshiped the being and appeased him each year on October 10th with gifts of gold, platters of their finest food and a child.  
No one knows what the children do while serving Kyūbi-Sama, but they are returned to their families upon their sixteenth birthdays well educated and healthy.  
That is all but the rare child that never returns...  
Maybe Kyūbi-Sama took a liking to these children and they still serve him to this day.  
Maybe they angered the Bijū in some way and he ate them.  
No one knows._

* * *

 **Chapter Summary**

 _When Itachi finds out young Sasuke has been chosen to be gifted to Kyūbi-Sama, he decides to serve the Bijū in his brother's place._

* * *

 **Itachi**

The Village of Konoha was a prosperous settlement. Crops were plentiful and the streets full of life. The people were happy and protected by the divine being, Kyūbi-Sama. Their land belonged to the Bijū of Chaos and Disaster, but they worshiped the being and appeased him each year on October 10th with gifts of gold, platters of their finest food and a child.

The children were never harmed and were even returned upon their sixteenth birthday, healthy, well educated and strong. They never remembered much of their time with the Bijū, only a single room in which they slept, ate, learnt and lived. None knew truly what Kyūbi-Sama did with the children, only that there were many gaps in their memories when they returned. And it was believed they had been blessed by the Bijū as they all went on to live prosperous, healthy and long lives.

However, it came to be that very rarely some children were never returned. Some believed the Bijū had taken a liking to these children and kept them as slaves. Others believed the children had angered the Bijū and he ate them. But those who had returned from the Bijū knew in their hearts, though they had no memories as to why, that those that remained were truly blessed, not those who returned.

Upon the ninety-sixth year of Konohagakure's founding the Uchiha Clan found themselves selecting their child to be gifted to Kyūbi-Sama. It was tradition that the child tribute be close the main family, often a child of the Clan Head, as it would not do to anger the Bijū by providing him with an inferior individual.

And so Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku's second son, Sasuke, was selected to be presented three days from then at Kyūbi-Sama's temple. The 'spare heir' had no responsibilities beyond supporting his elder brother in his hardships as a future head of the clan. So as the second and less talented of Fugaku's children, he would not be missed for the years to come.

However, the elder brother heard of these plans.

Itachi's cousin, Shisui, had been the previous child tribute of the Uchiha Clan eight years ago and had only been returned to them the previous year when he turned sixteen. Itachi had missed his cousin dearly the years he was gone, and now the clan planned to separate him from his brother where the Bijū of _Chaos and Destruction_ would do Kami knew what to the boy, never mind that Sasuke would remember none of it when he returned.

Itachi loved Sasuke very much. And so he would not allow for his brother to be presented as a gift to Kyūbi-Sama.

So when October 10th came about and each clan in turn entered the temple to leave their offerings, Itachi attended in his best clothing and stood beside his little brother who gripped his sleeve in fear of what was to become of him.

And when the Keeper of the Kyūbi's Temple, a young man named Iruka, approached the Uchiha Clan to receive that year's child, Itachi stepped in front of his brother and presented himself as the gift.

His father protested, as did the Elders. But Itachi stood strong and watched Iruka as he tilted his head a little as though listening to something beyond their hearing.

"It is done." He finally spoke. "Kyūbi-Sama has accepted Itachi-San's gifting. And he is not one to go back on his word."

Itachi was surprised that the Bijū had accepted him so easily. He was older than the typical gifted children who were usually below ten, some even being as young as five. And being at the age of thirteen meant he would only serve Kyūbi-Sama for three years.

However he was grateful and allowed himself to be lead forth to the temple's doors. He removed his Zori* and stepped inside in his Tori*, only then truly comprehended what is was he was doing. He turned and Iruka was standing just beyond the threshold smiling kindly down on him.

"You have done a good thing, Itachi-San." He said, and then drew the doors shut cutting him off from the outside world.

And everything was silent.

Slowly the boy turned to take in the temple. He had never been permitted to enter the space before as only the Clan Heads were allowed entrance to deliver their clan's offerings and Iruka whom maintained the building. Them and the children who had been gifted over the years.

The temple consisted of a single room. The floor was wooden and the ceiling beautiful with golden swirl designs. Gold gilded mirrors lined the walls right up to the raised alter at the far end, behind which stood a mirror with golden glass. Between each mirror an elaborate bracket held flickering candles aloof.

Upon the floor were the offerings the other clans had provided that year and Itachi stepped forth to look upon the riches reflected a thousand times over by the walls.

Eventually the boy grew tired and settled upon one of the luxurious carpets that he had seen to be carried into the temple earlier by the Head of the Sarutobi Clan. There he began to relax and wonder just what was to become of him and the offerings. He expected… Well he did not know _what_ to expect, but he had thought he would have been collected by now.

"Yes, I am running a little late, I suppose."

Itachi startled something terrible and turned to see a man studying a large crimson jewel, as red and lustrous as his hair, between forefinger and thumb, a jewel he himself had marvelled over earlier.

"W-what?!" Itachi stuttered, a far cry from his usual reserved character. The man ignored him, replaced the jewel and picked up a roll of bread that had been tempting the child since he had arrived. He absentmindedly chewed on the loaf with sharp white teeth while picking up a set of beautiful decorative knives.

"What are you doing?! Those belong to-!" The man finally looked at him and Itachi cringed beneath the ancient red eyes. "Kyūbi-Sama…" He uttered and promptly prostrated himself before the Bijū. "Please, forgive my atrocious conduct."

He could feel the Bijū's eyes continue to gaze upon him for some minutes before turning from him and back to the other offerings without so much as a word. Itachi remained upon the ground, unwilling to rise in fear of angering Kyūbi-Sama any further that he undoubtedly already had.

"I am not angry. Irritated, perhaps, I had expected better manners from the heir of the Uchiha Clan."

"M-my apologies, Kyūbi-Sama." Itachi uttered. The Bijū could-?

"Read your thoughts? You are merely human and your kind have such open, unprotected minds."

Unease entered Itachi's thoughts, but he pushed it aside and instead filled his mind with his sense of duty.

"I am prepared to serve you in any form you desire, Kyūbi-Sama."

"Hmm?" The Bijū enquired, but it seemed absent minded and Itachi had to force back the irritation that sparked at the lack of attention upon his person. As the heir of the Uchiha Clan he was used to being listened to.

The Bijū continued to inspect his other gifts and did not turn back to Itachi till he had held and admired every last one. And then those ancient eyes were back on his person.

"Well, stand up then. While Iruka keeps this place clean, you really shouldn't be lying on the floor."

Itachi was quick to comply and the Bijū walked around him once to see him from all angles.

"Such a pretty child, you are." Itachi blushed while internally attempting to repress his embarrassment and indignant anger. The Uchiha were a clan of beautiful people and unfortunately the men too fell under that category, not handsome. The Bijū laughed at him and his blush darkened further as he realised Kyūbi-Sama was again reading his thoughts. The Bijū pulled the tie from Itachi's hair and his long silky black hair fell around his face. "You will grow to be beautiful. Like your cousin. Though Shisui was perhaps a little _manlier_."

Itachi had not thought he could blush any harder.

"Strip." Pink faced, he did so with shaking hands. His pulled his many layers of clothing all embroidered with the Uchiha's red and white fan, from his body. He folded them and placed the material upon the floor, but upon receiving a pointed look he also removed his undergarments. Only when he stood entirely bare was he handed replacements. "While you are here you are no longer a Uchiha. You are only Itachi and you belong to me."

Itachi noted by discarding the clan's symbol and donning Kyūbi-Sama's clothing instead, he was transferring his ownership and freedom. Willingly he clothed himself in the offered silver silk yukata and it fit perfectly and felt amazing against his skin.

"Come." The Bijū spoke again, and when Itachi looked around the temple had changed. The gifts and his clan clothing had disappeared, as had the candles and their brackets upon the walls. Instead the mirrors' golden frames glowed and lit the room with a warm yellow light. "This way." The Bijū spoke again, and in Itachi's distracted state he had missed Kyūbi-Sama moving to one of the mirrors. He hurried to his side, stepping around and walking over cushions and carpets that now littered the floor.

The glass of the mirror they stood before was rippling unnaturally and Kyūbi-Sama stepped through it like there was nothing there. Hesitating but a moment Itachi followed him and passed through like the glass was nothing but a veil. He found himself in a room on the other side. Putting aside the matter of the unnatural, immaterial mirror, he did not know how this room was possible, for the size of the temple's outside was only large enough to encompass the room with the altar.

"We are no longer in the temple known to your village, but its counterpart on _my_ plane of existence." Kyūbi-Sama answered his unvoiced confusion.

The room was splendid in its simplicity and exactly what Itachi had always desired, but never known till he saw it with his own eyes. There was a large western style bed and the walls were covered from floor to ceiling with bookshelves filled to the last shelf with an assortment of books and scrolls. Upon the carpet was the softest of carpets and there were no windows, but the room was well lit, and when Itachi looked up the ceiling was glowing softly.

"You are to remain here." Kyūbi-Sama told him. "All you desire will be provided to you."

Itachi wondered in what way this contributed to him serving Kyūbi-Sama.

"You are not ready to serve me."

He wondered when he would be.

"In time, have patience."

He wondered what he was to do until then.

"Whatever you wish within these four walls."

Itachi bowed low before the Bijū, grateful for his benevolence and hospitality.

"Osoreirimasu*."

Kyūbi-Sama turned from him and left without another word. The mirror's glass returning to mediocrity behind him.

Time passed strangely within the room. Itachi had no way to mark the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and eventually years that must have passed. He only knew his room and when he grew tired the room darkened and when he woke it brightened once more. If he was hungry or thirsty, food and drink would appear when his back was turned and always exactly what he desired, sometimes without him even knowing what that was till it was provided.

The bedpan was always empty when he came to use it again and when he wished to bathe a tub of water of perfect temperature would be found. The room was also always the perfect temperature, neither too cold nor too warm.

The few things of which he was never supplied, much to his frustration, were a band to tie up his hair or something sharp which he could use to cut it to a suitable length. And so his locks grew long, and to his dismay, emphasised his more feminine features. Though he still brushed daily till it was silky smooth, for it would be unbecoming for an heir of the Uchiha Clan to appear anything but presentable.

He passed his time reading the books and scrolls and training in the traditional martial arts style of his clan which he had begun training in before being gifted to Kyūbi-Sama and found more advanced scrolls of in his bookshelves. In this manor he continued to live. He had no company, but found he did not crave it.

And as Kyūbi-Sama had predicted he grew from pretty to beautiful. As his body matured so did his mind and he found he _did_ crave company, but of the lustful desires that all young men do.

And he dreamed. He dreamed of the redhead Bijū: gorgeous, fierce and dominating. Dominating _him_.

He was not ignorant of the relations between a man and woman and what sex entailed. In fact he was not ignorant of what it entailed between two men either. Several of the many books in his room had seen to that.

And it was after one of these dreams that a change came.

The room was cool to compensate for his heated skin as he rose from his bed. He immediately approached the tub filled with blessedly cool water to calm him, slipped out of the silver yukata he had donned since being gifted and promptly got in.

When he returned to his bed the sheets had been replaced with clean fresh linin and another clean silver yukata was folded ready for him atop the sheets.

He had wondered often over the years why Kyūbi-Sama had never returned for him. Why he had never been called to serve the Bijū. Despite not knowing just how long he had been here, there could not be long till he turned sixteen and was returned to his family.

What purpose had he provided over these years to the Bijū?

And it was when he was fully clothed and turned to choose yet another book from the collection that he saw it. The only gap among the shelves was that which held the mirror that he had entered through three years previous. It had remained entirely ordinary since then. But now the frame glowed gold and the glass rippled.

Cautiously he approached it. He stood for a moment observing the spectacle before warily putting out a hand to touch the rippling glass. Only for it to pass right through. Startled, Itachi jumped back, but soon gathered his resolved and stepped forth and through to what lay beyond.

It was the temple he remembered. The glowing, golden framed mirrors on the walls opposite him and cushions and carpets decorating the floor. But what truly gave him pause were the people sat upon the ground, talking and eating and drinking.

He remained before his mirror till one of the people spotted him.

"Troublesome…" The boy, no, _young man_ sighed. The others turned to see what had garnered such a response and they too looked upon Itachi but with welcoming smiles.

"Come, join us." One with ginger hair invited him. Hesitantly Itachi approached. There were seven of them; five men and two women. All appeared to be about sixteen, the same age as him, and were dressed in yukata of different colours but the same design as Itachi's own. They made space for him in their circle between the ginger and the one who had first seen him. "My name's Fū." The redhead introduced, no family or clan name, just Fū. The others did the same.

"Torune."

"Maruten."

"Neji."

"Hana."

"Yakumo."

"Troublesome… Shikamaru."

"Itachi." Itachi said when they had gone round the entire circle and they stared at him expectantly. Despite them not saying he could easily deduce which clans each were born to.

"It is troublesome, but I suppose we should get him up to speed." Shikamaru said, yawning widely and lazing back against his cushions. He was clearly a Nara.

Neji stared disapprovingly of Shikamaru's conduct and his white eyes told Itachi he was a Hyūga, while Hana had the clear red fang markings of the Inuzuka Clan upon her cheeks.

Yakumo was also quickly categorised as a Kurama as she put aside her paper, brushes and paint. Torune was an Aburame if the sunglasses he wore were any indication as to his sensitivity to light. And Maruten had the build of an Akimichi.

That only left Fū, and if he were to go by his calculating gaze and the lack of anyone else being of the clan, he was likely a Yamanaka.

"So, you were gifted to Kyūbi-Sama on the ninety-sixth year, correct."

"Troublesome… mine was the ninety-fifth, so he must be." Shikamaru interrupted before Itachi could reply.

"But," Itachi began, mind working furiously. The year before him had indeed been a Nara, but he had been Sasuke's age, he should be eleven at most, not sixteen like himself.

"We've got ourselves a clever one." Yakumo said, picking up her paint and brush once more.

"You're all my age. If you were all gifted to Kyūbi-Sama, I would have known you from around the village."

"Hmm…" Shikamaru hummed noncommittedly and left it to Fū to explain.

"Just bear in mind that not only are we in service of a _Bijū_ but we are also currently on another 'plane of existence'." Itachi nodded slowly, wondering what new impossibility had occurred. "Since you entered the temple and your room, two, maybe three days have passed."

Itachi held himself back from arguing. He had spent years in that room, reading almost half of the books upon the shelves and _aging_. Instead he retained eye contact with Fū, waiting for the explanation he was sure would follow.

"Kyūbi-Sama has no need of our service when we are so young, so when we arrive we spend time in our room maturing till we are suitable for his needs." Fū began. "But our rooms seem to run at a different time to the rest of the temple and the outside. While to us you have been here only a few days, to you it has been years. When we reach sixteen we stop aging till the time outside has caught up with our growth and we can be returned to our families."

Itachi processed this in silence for several moments.

"So I still have three years till I will leave this place." He stated rather than asked. Either way, the others did not bother to answer. "What do we do in service of Kyūbi-Sama?"

The seven others glanced at each other, all clearly unwilling to elaborate.

"We cannot say." Maruten finally replied. "We are forbidden. Just as it was for all of us, you will not know till you are called upon."

Itachi considered this, and finally nodded his head in acceptance.

"When will I be 'called upon'?"

"When it please Kyūbi-Sama." Torune bluntly replied. "No sooner, no later."

"After I was 'matured', I was called upon the very next day." Hana revealed. "Shikamaru, however, did not see Kyūbi-Sama for over a month after he was 'matured'."

"Troublesome…"

"How will I know when Kyūbi-Sama requires me?" Itachi asked.

"You will know." Fū mysteriously stated. "And when that time comes, you enter through the golden mirror behind the alter."

They talked and ate and participated in their favourite past times together till they each grew tired and returned to their rooms. After that Itachi found that his mirror never resealed and he spent his waking hours among the others.

Over a week passed in this manner in which time all but he and Maruten had been called upon. Each time the individual had looked to the golden mirror for seemingly no reason before abandoning whatever they had been doing to walk through the gold glass. They never returned in the same day, and when they re-emerged it was always from their own room and with a prominent limp and bruised decorating their visible flesh.

Itachi contemplated the idea that Kyūbi-Sama beat them for his pleasure, or had them doing gruelling tasks for his amusement. But none of his fellow gifts ever complained or seemed even remotely upset by their visits to Kyūbi-Sama. In fact they were always overly cheerful, though usually tired, upon their return.

It was during an engaging conversation with Neji, comparing their two clans' traditional martial arts, that Itachi was hit by the powerful and welcome scent of spice and incense. It was accompanied by the chimes of bells that were soothing on his ears and his vision centred upon the gold glassed mirror which enticed him forth.

He stopped mid-sentence and he was already up and half way across the room when some semblance of his senses returned to him. He glanced back and the others smiled encouragingly at him, with Shikamaru providing his trademark phrase but nodding his support. Itachi turned from them and continued on.

He did not pause before the mirror, just stepped forth as he and the others did to enter their rooms. And when he was on the other side he blinked several times to adjust to a much darker setting.

It was a bedroom, was the first thing he noted. The bed was large, far larger than his own, and it was the only furniture within the room. The ceiling glowed a soft orange that reminded Itachi of the sky at sunset on the outside.

And upon the end of the bed sat Kyūbi-Sama.

The Bijū was far more handsome than the three year old memory Itachi's dreams had supplied him with. Blood red hair haloed the gorgeous face with three whisker-like marks adorning each cheek.

He wore a simple Yukata of the same silky material as Itachi's in sea green and it fell open to the sash, revealing a chiselled chest, the entirety of his skin tanned the colour of the richest honey.

Itachi's mouth went dry and his pale skin flushed beneath the red, red eyes of the ancient Bijū. He bowed low, his exasperatingly long hair falling forward like a curtain, and waited for Kyūbi-Sama to instruct him.

The Bijū laughed at him and he flushed further as he recalled Kyūbi-Sama knew his every thought. And he had been, for lack of a better phrase, checking-him-out. He was mortified, especially as he noted his young body, unused to such stimuli, had responded to the gorgeous specimen before him.

"It is quite alright. Most have such reaction when around me." The Bijū stated.

"Kyūbi-Sama…" Itachi whispered imploringly, mortified that the Bijū knew.

"Come here, Itachi." He hurried to do so and when standing before the Bijū his chin was gripped in a strong hand and face turned upward from where he had lowered his gaze in respect and submission. "What did I tell you; such a beauty you have become."

Itachi flushed further and closed his eyes, unable to meet the ancient laughing eyes. The Bijū tsk-ed.

"Your hair suits you splendidly." He mildly stated and Itachi looked up incredulous, only to see a teasing smirk on the Bijū's lips. But before he could voice his annoyance and indignation Kyūbi-Sama spoke again. "Are you ready to serve me, Itachi?"

Pushing down his emotions, Itachi took a single step back and bent in the lowest of bows.

"I serve at your pleasure, Kyūbi-Sama. Do with me what you will."

"Good." The Bijū purred and it sent a shiver down Itachi's spine.

The next thing he knew hands were gripping him and the world twisted around him till he found himself lying upon the bed face down…

* * *

 **[EXPLICIT CONTENT REMOVED, GO TO AO3 TO READ]**

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And the next thing he knew he was staring up at the dim glow of the ceiling in his own room.

Had it all been a dream? Itachi shifted atop the sheets of his bed and then flushed as something wet trickled from his arse. He quickly sat up, far too fast for a spike of pain ran up his spine and he froze a moment to relax his tense muscles. Far more slowly he got up and shuffled over to the mirror, that while rippling was still reflective enough for its original purpose.

His skin held a healthy flush he was unused to and bruises decorated his skin in what he had read to be hickeys. Most prominent were the black and blue impressions of large hands upon his hips. And an unmistakable thick white gloop was dripping down his inner thighs.

He blushed fiercely and turned to find a bath prepared exactly where it always was when he had need of it. He slipped into the soothing warm water with relief and soaked for an immeasurable amount of time until all his tense muscles had unwound and the skin of his fingers and toes were pruned.

A fierce hunger had overcome him and when he rose from the water and dried himself with the towel provided, he turned to find a feast already waiting. He ate with an inelegance that was improper, but none were watching and in this moment he was not sure that if there were he would care.

Only when every last morsel was gone did he dress in the silver yukata that sat atop fresh bedding where it always did. He stood in front of the rippling mirror once more and admired his reflection.

Kyūbi-Sama had been right. He was uncommonly beautiful, even by his clan's standards. But what made him take note of it now was the happy twinkle in his dark eyes, the healthy pink flush upon cheeks that had been wan and the small content quirk of his lips that threatened to widen into a full smile.

Composing himself with some effort, he stepped forth and through the intangible glass to his fellow gifts beyond. They welcomed him into their fold, no secrets between them anymore. And as they read, snoozed, painted and ate Neji was called upon.

He returned to them the following day, skin as flushed as Itachi's had been and fresh bruises decorating his skin. And the cycle continued. Itachi was called upon far more often since his first time and each time Kyūbi-Sama took great pleasure in his flesh. But also they came to converse before he was lustfully thrust into unconsciousness.

They usually talked of Itachi's family and friends as rarely did Kyūbi-Sama give anything of his own life away, Itachi being a mere human as he was. But despite that being the case he did not believe Kyūbi-Sama thought of him as _merely_ a human, but rather a person in his own right.

A little over two years passed and Maruten was gone. One day he was called upon and simply never came back. He had been returned to his family with no fanfare. Two other gifts joined them too. Ino and Shino, a Yamanaka and Aburame respectively. The two naturally gravitated to their fellow clan members once they joined them after their 'maturing'. And each were called on in their turn.

And then fast approaching was Itachi's own return. His talks with the Bijū had shifted from his past to his future on the outside, something for which Itachi found he had little planned.

He missed his clingy little brother, but the rest of his family were far too caught up in their clan pride for his liking. And he was not looking forward to the duties he would be expected to undertake as heir, or to taking up his father's mantel when the time came.

He did not want to return.

He had no need to voice these things, for he knew Kyūbi-Sama took his thoughts from his as he pleased. So instead he spoke of the duties he would have to do and his small hopes of what his wife would be like when the time came for him to marry. He had been betrothed to a noble lady from the capital since his birth, though he had never met the girl nearly seven years older than he.

And he longed for children to call his own and bring up how he wished he and his brother had been. To be how he thought a family should be.

He knew the time for his return was drawing nearer and nearer, but it was still a surprise when he was called upon, the scent of spice and incense and the ringing of sweet bells by now something he craved, and the first works for Kyūbi-Sama's lips to be…

"This will be the last time you provide your 'service' to me, Itachi. And then you will return to your family."

Itachi's heart hurt and he saw the pain in the Bijū's eyes.

"I will miss you." He whispered.

"You will not." Kyūbi-Sama replied. "You will remember none of this."

 _What_?!

"I have found that my presence can be quite… _addictive_. Those who remember me suffer greatly away from my company."

"But…" Itachi began, unable to find the words to express what he felt.

"There is no need. I feel what you feel, hear what you think. But there is no need to fear, you will feel none of those things once you forget."

"NO!" Something in Itachi snapped.

He missed Sasuke.

But, as had been proven, he could live without his brother.

But Kyūbi-Sama… He was his escape from the outside world; a place away from his clan where he had to do what was expected, not what he wanted. But he was more than that. Kyūbi-Sama was his life now.

He may be 'addicted' like Kyūbi-Sama said his gifts became, but he knew somehow that he would not ever be the same even if made to forget of his time in Kyūbi-Sama's service.

"Itachi…"

"NO!" He cried again.

"What of your brother, Itachi? What of little Sasuke who has waited for your return? And the rest of your family? Your mother cried when you left. And your clan needs you…"

"Stop it!" Itachi knew. "Stop trying to change my mind!" He knew, even though Kyūbi-Sama tried to hide it. "You don't want me to leave either!"

He panted from the exertion of raising his voice into the silence that followed his words. And when he met the Bijū's eyes he saw no denial, only sadness… and maybe a little hope.

"You want me to stay." He reiterated. "You do!"

"I do." Kyūbi-Sama admitted. "But what I want does not matter. You have completed your service to me. You have no further obligations to fill here. Your clan _does_ need you. And your family misses you. _Loves_ you." He paused. "I will not keep you from them."

"My family and clan need an heir, something Sasuke is more than capable of becoming. And…" _I_ love _you_.

"No you don't."

"I do! I-"

"You care for me, I see that. But it isn't love… not yet."

"Not yet…? You mean…?"

"You want to stay? Will you will not regret it? You cannot return later if you stay now."

He knew Itachi's answer as the thoughts crossed his mind, but he still needed to hear it out loud.

"Yes, Kyūbi-Sama." It was simple, but it was everything.

"Kurama. My name is Kyūbi Kurama."

"Itachi, just Itachi." Itachi reintroduced himself too, forsaking his clan's name.

"Kyūbi Itachi." Kurama corrected. "You are mine now, Itachi. Now and _forever_. You understand that, yes?"

"Yes, Kurama-Sama."

Itachi was laid out on his back atop the sheets of the bed. His hair that had not grown since his age had frozen at sixteen still reached his lower back and fanned out beneath him now like a sheet of black silk.

"You are not the only one, you know. There have been others, as few as they may be, that have preferred my company over their freedom and the outside." Kurama said, moving between beautiful Itachi's legs and hovering above him.

Itachi had suspected as such, for he knew some of those gifted to the Bijū never returned to their families, and he could not imagine Kurama-Sama killing (or _eating_ ) the children gifted to him. He could, however, imagine all too easily others falling for the Bijū.

"Eating the chi… They think I _eat children_?" The incredulous and somewhat insulted look on Kurama's face was nothing short of hilarious. And Itachi laughed. But when Kurama's expression did not change he stifled the unbecoming chuckles and raised himself on his elbows to kiss that Bijū's frown thinned lips.

"Not unbecoming." Kurama stated when they parted. "You are no heir now, and your laugh is as beautiful as you." Itachi blushed fiercely and Kurama pushed him back down and kissed him hard and long.

"Will I meet them? The others that have stayed?"

"You will meet my other mates soon. But first…"

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 **[EXPLICIT CONTENT REMOVED, GO TO AO3 TO READ]**

* * *

And when he woke he was back in his room. The ceiling glowed softly like early morning light, a satisfying ache in his lower back and a warm, familiar substance leaking from his arse.

And he smiled.

* * *

 **Translations**

Zori* Sandal like footwear

Tori* Traditional socks worn with Zori

Osoreirimasu* _Extremely_ polite way of saying thank you and sorry for the trouble.


End file.
